The
balmy weather last Friday generated an unusually large turnout
for Albany’s monthly Critical Mass bike ride. Participants
estimate that 30 to 40 people, including families with children
and older riders, showed up for the event, a loosely organized
ride designed to celebrate nonmotorized transportation. The
atmosphere was cheerful, and possibly less political than
some other times, recalled Christian Schider, who has been
on more than a dozen of the rides. So the events of the evening
came as shock to many involved.

According
to several participants, as the group pulled out of the southeast
corner of Washington Park onto Madison Avenue around 5:30
PM, they were pulled over by a police sergeant in an SUV.
“We were asking why was he stopping us, his first reason was
basically that we were blocking traffic, and we said well
we’re riding in the lane like the law, and we started quoting
the law to him.”

Albany’s traffic ordinances state that bicycles may ride up
to two abreast in the right lane of a roadway. Since two abreast
effectively takes over the lane, Critical Mass riders say
that in the past, police have usually left them alone as long
as they did not take up more than one lane and followed other
traffic laws. (Worldwide, the Critical Mass slogan is “We
are traffic.”)

The officer, identified by several riders as Sgt. Noonan,
“said he needed to figure out what the laws were, and he actually
took out his law book, this pamphlet thing, and was looking
it up, and was actually asking us where it was,” said
participant Emily Collins.

“In
other words,” added participant David Oehl, “he wasn’t pulling
us over because we were breaking a law, he was pulling us
over because we were inconveniencing him, and he pulled out
a book to try to pin something on us.”

The officer, who appeared to the riders to be nervous at trying
to confront and argue with such a large group, called for
backup. “They called seven police cars over, which in my mind
is stopping far more traffic than we ever would have stopped,
which is the ironic part of the whole thing,” said Collins.

“There
were cars double parked on Madison; there could have been
higher priorities for the sergeant at the scene,” agreed Schider.

Albany Police Department spokesman Det. James Miller said
the group was stopped for “impeding traffic” and “because
they were in clear violation of the vehicle and traffic law
of riding more than two abreast.”

Rather than continue to argue, a large subsection of the group
decided to proceed with their ride. They turned north on Lark
Street, and then west on Central Avenue, and according to
Collins, now scrupulously stayed no more than two abreast.

Nice
bike: An APD officer astride Christian Schider’s bicycle.

However,
as they approached the intersection with Robin Street, another
patrol car approached the group from behind. “He pulled over,
kind of running right into our lane,” said Schider. “The left
lane was free for cars to pass.” Schider says the officer
didn’t speak to the group or tell them to pull over when he
got out of the car, but “just went right for [the first person
he saw] and grabbed his handlebars.” Schider, Collins, Oehl,
and rider David Jimenez all said they saw that rider, Devon
Hedges, dragged into the opposite lane by the officer, whom
Hedges identified as Officer Herrigan.

“It
was horrible because they both could have gotten killed. Luckily
there were no cars coming,” said Collins. “There were young
kids there—the kids were crying. It was just a really unfortunate
situation.”

At this point someone suggested that the ride should end,
and participants starting going their own ways. Schider continued
riding north on Central Avenue, but “halfway down the block,
the same sergeant who stopped us at Madison came up beside
me and was pushing me into the parked cars with his car,”
he recalled. “I had one hand on my handlebar and my left hand
on his window, and I was yelling ‘What are you doing?’ ” Schider
said he panicked and tried to turn his bicycle around, at
which point the sergeant “did a 180” and “started driving
right at me.” Schider said he “got off my bike and just stopped.”

Schider said he was handcuffed and put in the back of a patrol
car for about half an hour. He was released with traffic tickets
and charges of disorderly conduct. About a half-dozen other
riders were also given tickets on Central Avenue for riding
more than two abreast in Washington Park.

While Schider was in the car, he and Oehl said they saw an
officer riding around the street on Schider’s bicycle, an
antique Schwinn. Schider said that was not the only “unprofessional”
behavior he experienced: “I’m in handcuffs, I’m trying to
be calm and [I’m] talking to someone who is leaning in the
window and saying ‘Did you make your point? Are you saving
Iraqi children? Do you own a car? Are you a hypocrite?’ ”
Then, Schider said, the sergeant asked him how many tickets
he’d like to have written for him. “I said ‘I didn’t do anything
wrong . . . but you have the power, you can do anything you
want’ and his response was ‘That’s right, I have the power.’
”

Miller categorically denies the accounts provided by the ride
participants. “You’re hearing accounts from people who were
in violation of the law, so I’m sure their accounts are going
to be much different from what actually happened,” he said.
“The two people who were arrested, one was arrested for not
complying with the officers’ commands and being very belligerent.
The second arrest for disorderly conduct was for not complying
with the officers’ commands and then the bicyclist took off
on the officer and he had to track him down. . . . It took
several officers to basically contain the situation because
it also went onto Central Avenue. Something that should have
been alleviated within a few minutes tied the officers up
for upwards of half an hour.”

Miller added, “If there’s a complaint about the way the issue
was handled, they have avenues in which they can file a formal
complaint, and as of now I know of no one that has done that.”

“My
impression throughout the entire incident was the police were
very agitated, and nobody in the ride was,” countered Hedges.
“They [the police] didn’t seem to have a clear idea of what
they should be doing or how they should be responding.”

“You
can tell when someone is overworked, overstressed,” noted
Schider. “My advice for Albany cops is to take yoga classes.”

—Miriam
Axel-Lute

maxel-lute@metroland.net

What
a Week

Wal-fare

Wal-Mart
announced this week the creation of 10 “Wal-Mart
Jobs and Opportunity Zones.” In these zones, Wal-Mart
will offer local small businesses training on
how to survive while competing with Wal-Mart,
and will feature local businesses in its own newspaper
advertising and radio spots. Wal-Mart also promised
to build 50 stores in areas of need, such as neighborhoods
with high unemployment and crime rates, towns
with vacant malls and sites that are “environmentally
contaminated.”

If
Only

Hillary
haters bid more than $2,500 in an eBay auction
this week for the right to have their likeness
used for a character in a new children’s book
by Katharine DeBrecht, the ultra-right-wing author
of Help! Mom! Hollywood’s in my Hamper!
DeBrecht’s press materials call this character,
who sends “Hillary Clunkton” to jail, “the hero
who finally gives Hillary what she deserves for
being bossy and constantly trying to tell families
what to do.” If that deserves jail time, we know
some lefties who’d love the power to make citizen’s
arrests. . . .

Thinning
the Herd

University
of Texas biology professor Eric Pianka has succeeded
in drawing attention to his claim that human overpopulation
is hurting the planet, but he may not have gone
about it in the most tactful manner. During two
speeches about vanishing animal habitats in March,
he compared the “effectiveness” of various diseases
in thinning the human population. “HIV is too
slow. It’s no good,” he said. He did, however,
approve of airborne Ebola virus and bird flu.

Spare
Parts

Scientists
at Wake Forest University in North Carolina have
grown new bladders from the cells of patients.
The new procedure has been used to help patients
with spina bifida who end up with urinary problems.
Traditionally, the procedure to fix the problem
has involved using a piece of the patient’s intestine,
which can lead to numerous problems including
organ rejection. Since the new bladders are grown
out of the patient’s own cells, there is less
chance they will be rejected. Scientists hope
to soon be able to grow more complicated organs
such as hearts and lungs.

Court
of Prevention

Albany
County district attorney launches basketball program to help
keep youths away from gangs

On Sunday, Albany County Dis-
trict Attorney David Soares stood in front of nearly 40 middle-school-aged
children in the gymnasium of the William S. Hackett Middle
School on Delaware Avenue in Albany. Soares, dressed in a
gray suit and holding a basketball, announced to the gathered
youngsters, “I’m the best basketball player on the planet,
and if I’d brought my shoes I would show you.” A few giggles
leaked out of the mouths of the otherwise attentive and serious
children. “What? You don’t believe me?” Soares asked. “David,
I brought them!” interjected Soares’ wife from the sidelines.
Soares looked around the room nervously, then matter-of-factly
informed the kids, “She didn’t bring the right ones.”

Thus began Soares’ 2006 Bring It to the
Courts program, which offers Albany middle- school children
basketball leagues on weekends and educational workshops and
tutoring on Wednesdays after school. The program has changed
since last year’s version, which focused on drawing youth
to basketball tournaments. Explains Soares, “We’ve gone away
from the tournament for more of a league so we see the same
kids over and over again.”

Around 10 volunteers, including Ward 3 Common Councilman Corey
Ellis, signed kids up, went over the program and then ran
practice drills. Participants in the program will be picked
up by volunteers in vans lent to the program by local churches.

A young blond boy in a white T-shirt, baggy pants and work
boots sat quietly in the corner of the gymnasium watching
the other children run drills. Soares approached the young
man and began a conversation. The boy explained that he had
caught a bus from out past Crossgates Mall to come to the
event but couldn’t play because he had boots on. “You don’t
have any other shoes?” asked Soares. The boy shook his head
no. “We’ll have to get you some then,” replied Soares.

Soares said that for months local media outlets have been
focused on violence in schools, but he insists that “the focus
shouldn’t be on the schools but on the streets. It’s the violence
on the streets the schools are adopting, as a result of kids
walking into schools with unresolved issues. The focus should
be on resolving issues on the street, and the only way you
are going to be able to do that is by getting kids involved
in activities so they are staying away from gangs.”

Soares said that this preventive approach is also missing
from recently introduced state legislation (A.10268) that
would require mandatory minimum sentencing for gang-related
crimes. The new legislation would prescribe two to five years
for nonviolent crimes and 10 years for violent ones. Soares
said that while he is in favor of tougher sentencing, “We
should also focus on prevention and intervention, especially
in the area of gangs, and I think that is where this [legislation]
falls a little short.” Soares added, “There is an obligation
here: If you are going to create tougher penalties on a state
level we should also see some prevention and intervention
dollars coming from the state.”

In fact, Soares thinks Albany could be used as a testing ground
to try different kinds of anti-gang programs. “The city is
a perfect place for testing a lot of these initiatives,” said
Soares. “Our problem is confined, for the most part, to 77
blocks in the city of Albany. It’s the perfect environment
to inject prevention and intervention. It’s small enough to
manage and to determine if various initiatives are working.”

Albany Mayor Jerry Jennings, who stopped by to ask the kids
if they would be interested in taking part in a separate summer
basketball league the city might start, agreed that prevention
needs to be taken seriously. “We want to prevent them from
getting into gangs. Let them compete out on the basketball
courts.” He added, “Kids feel safe in the schools. So they
should be there. They should have access to them during nonschool
hours.”

As the practice groups lined up to take free throws, Soares’
toddler daughter walked up to her father and pulled his pants
leg. She pointed toward the bleachers, and Soares took her
hand and they walked to a seat with the rest of the onlookers.

—David
King

dking@metroland.net

Small
Insurance for Small Business

Federal
bill to help small employers could undermine New York laws
ensuring comprehensive coverage

Women all over the United States might want to take notice
of a new bill—the Health Insurance Marketplace Modernization
and Affordability Act—because it could take birth control
and direct access to OB/GYN visits away from their health
coverage. The bill is ostensibly designed to save small employers
money and extend health-insurance options to employees who
hadn’t had them. Introduced by Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) on
Nov. 2, 2005, it received approval by the U.S. Senate Committee
on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions on March 15, and
is awaiting consideration by the full Senate.

Under HIMMAA, small businesses and trade associations would
be able to establish small-business health plans, giving them
the capability to negotiate as a group with insurers about
health-care prices, a benefit that big businesses, unions
and government already enjoy. The sponsors of HIMMAA claim
that passing this bill could save small businesses an estimated
15 to 30 percent on health-insurance costs. They also maintain
that it would allow health-insurance companies to offer a
wider range of plans by reforming the current jumble of varying
state regulations into an easier-to-manage, multistate system.

However, that streamlining involves HIMMAA allowing SBHPs
to opt out of offering any benefit that is mandated in fewer
than 45 states. This could undermine New York’s Women’s Health
and Wellness Act, which requires insurance plans to cover
osteoporosis exams, prescription contraceptives, and breast-
and cervical-cancer screening. Only 23 states have enacted
contraceptive coverage laws similar to that of the Women’s
Health and Wellness Act. Other New York benefits at risk include
prostate-cancer screening, direct access to OB/GYN services,
and diabetes monitoring, supplies and education.

“The
‘Lose Your Benefits Act’ is about protecting the bottom line
of insurance companies at the expense of patients’ health,”
said Patricia McGeown, president-CEO of Upper Hudson Planned
Parenthood. “Here in New York, we worked hard to pass the
Women’s Health and Wellness Act to correct discriminatory
practices in health care. Congress should move forward on
preventative health care, not backward.”

In a recent press statement, New York state’s superintendent
of insurance, Howard Mills, acknowledged Congress for its
commitment to reforming health insurance, but cautioned, “I
must express my deep concern that [this] legislation, though
laudable in intent, [has] a number of provisions that could
create serious unintended consequences in New York.”

New York’s current program for small businesses and the self-employed,
Healthy NY, provides affordable health insurance regardless
of age, gender, occupation or health. If HIMMAA passed, it
would set aside New York’s open enrollment/community-rated
system, and insurers might recruit younger and healthier individuals
and discriminate against older New Yorkers who are not yet
eligible for Medicare or those with preexisting conditions,
said Mills.

According to UHPP’s vice president of public affairs and marketing,
Blue Carreker, the Women’s Health and Wellness Act was passed
a couple of years ago, only to be immediately challenged by
the Catholic Conference. The dispute was finally settled this
year. “We spent a long time to make sure these coverages were
available,” says Carreker. “Nobody wants to see them swept
away.”

Carreker admitted that insurance companies might face some
inconvenience when dealing with varying state regulations,
but countered, “I don’t believe inconvenience is a valid reason
to pass a bill that would potentially confiscate rights that
we have worked so long for.”

—Katherine
Lee

Overheard

Overheard:

“Delaware
Avenue’s haunted.”

“Delaware
Avenue?”

“Yeah.
Something bad happened there.”

—CDTA Route 18 bus, in the midst of a discussion
of haunted houses.

Overheard:“Question
his manhood.”

—Ralph
Nader, at a press conference Tuesday supporting
Alice Green, in response to a question about how
Green could convince Mayor Jerry Jennings to participate
in a debate.

Loose
Ends

Two
local self-published books [“DIY Books,”
Nov. 17, 2005], Saving Troy and The
Long Stair, have defied conventional wisdom
by selling enough to enter second print runs.
. . . Infuriating Mayor Gerald Jennings, the New
York State Legislature took out $322 million in
state aid that Gov. Pataki had promised the city
of Albany through 2038 from a local government
aid bill, the Times Union reported Tuesday
(March 28). Much of that money was to support
the hotel portion of Albany’s convention center
plan [“Convention Wisdom,” March 2]. The Legislature
is offering one year of extra aid, and legislators
disagreed with Jennings’ assessment that this
move would kill the convention center project.
. . . Publishing house Crown Books has donated
$100 to the Albany Public Library in memory of
the late author Rodney Whitaker, aka Trevanian
[“Assumed Identity,” May 26, 2005], confirming
his identity. A library spokesman told the Times
Union they were “delighted” with the gift